We Belong to Them
by thecoleaderofgroupb
Summary: Group B wakes up after being rescued from WICKED's lab and they encounter Teresa in Aris's room. In mess of the confusion, the group realizes that they've been marked by WICKED with various tattoos, leading to more questions they want answers for.


**Notes**: I wondered what WICKED would have given Group B for their subject titles and how they reacted to them. All of the Group B ones are fan-made: most of them are by me and Sonya's is by plz-tommy-plz. The Group B characters Maria, Jane, Helen, Julia, and Charlotte (mentioned) are my creations and are the counterparts to Minho, Chuck, Winston, Frypan/Siggy, and George. Charlotte is named after Charlotte Perkins Gilman, activist and author.

* * *

"Ugh Jules," Sonya groaned as she draped her arm over her eyes. "Stop screaming already, will ya? The kitchen's not on fire – just a stupid dream you keep having."

Harriet walked over to the co-leader and nudged her awake, casting a wary glance over her shoulder. "Sony? Sony, hey! Just wake up already!" she ordered her. "It's not Jules screaming."

"My scream…sounds nothing…like that," Julia murmured, her voice shaking. She clamped her hands over her ears and moved away from the window when one of the deranged figures tried to reach out to her.

Maria stood at the window and yelled, "Will You Just SHUT UP!"

"Real helpful Ria," Harriet noted as she nudged Sonya again. "They're quaking in fear of you."

Maria narrowed her eyes at Harriet before walking over to comfort Jane, who was huddled in the corner, terror in her eyes. Sonya moved her arm off her eyes and she sat up, her eyes moving around the room from Jane pressing her face against Maria's chest to some of the other members huddled next to each other, all of them looking over at a window to the left. She looked in the direction they were looking and she wished she hadn't.

They were clawing at the window, hands covered in sores, others missing skin, hair, and parts of their faces…Sonya felt her blood freeze and her stomach churned as she stared at them trying to grasp for the Group B members through the window, only to be stopped by the vertical bars fitted to the window. One of these figures turned to look at Sonya, missing part of its cheek and one of its eyes was cloudy. It made this horrible cracking sound as it opened its mouth and it shrieked in a shrill voice, "I'm a Crank! A Crank! Kill me now! Kill me!"

Sonya threw back the covers and sat up as she looked around the room for an exit. She noticed the door in the far right corner and she made a dash to it, trying to tug on the door handle, only to discover it was locked. She continued to twist and tug on the door handle as the others tried to tell her to forget it.

"Sonya it's stuck."

"Don't bother – we tried like a hundred some odd times to get that thing open."

"They're right Stick," Harriet sighed as she walked over to her. "I tried it myself and it won't budge. Ria tried with those "guns" of hers but couldn't get it open."

"Don't be jealous Harri," Maria snorted as she flexed one arm. "They ain't huge but I got them from running, jumping, and surviving the Maze. What about you?"

Harriet rolled her eyes before looking over at Sonya, who was pressing a hand against the door and shaking as she slid to the floor. She pressed her forehead against the door and let out a choked cry, trying to hold the tears back as the sounds of the disfigured creatures, the other Sticks, and Harriet began blur in her ears. She couldn't hear anything clearly in that moment except a ringing sound, accompanied by a painful throbbing sensation in her head.

_We escaped the nightmare and we arrived in Hell_, Sonya thought as she covered her ears to block it out.

* * *

"Don't shake her Ria!" Harriet snapped.

"You wanna check on her, Your Royal Highness?" Maria shot back. "Apparently I'm going to do this all wrong, according to you!"

Sonya lifted her head and pulled her hands away from her ears. She looked over at Maria who was kneeling beside her. Sonya looked past Maria, her mouth dropping open when she saw that the window where the screaming figures stood was now boarded up with bricks. Maria saw her reaction and nodded over at the window.

"After you tried to open the door, the lights went out in our room and everything was pitch black," Maria explained. "Weirdly enough, those things – guess they're called Cranks – stopped making noise when it went dark. About an hour later, the lights come back on and the window's boarded up. That brick wall is solid – almost as if it was built a long time ago instead of just an hour. Not sure how that happened but, it's better than listening to those crazies scream." She scanned Sonya's face and asked her if she was okay. Sonya's shoulders sagged and she wrapped her in a hug, pressing her face against the other girl's shoulder.

"I…don't…know," Sonya whispered. "God, I feel so weak for breaking down like that."

"Too much at once," Maria murmured as she returned the hug. "You're allowed to have an emotional moment Stick – lots of changes at once and I'm surprised at how well we're all holding up." She sighed as she glanced towards the door. "We heard a weird sound coming from the door after the lights went out – not sure if the lock was broken or something, but we should try that door again."

Sonya nodded before scrambling to her feet and turning her attention to the door. Harriet walked over and hugged Sonya, stroking the other girl's long hair as she murmured that they were going to get through this. Maria cracked her knuckles before grasping the knob in her hands and twisting it hard as she pulled. The door refused to budge and she growled in frustration as she tried again.

"Maybe you should try pushing instead of pulling?" Jane suggested off to the side.

Maria sighed and twisted the knob again, this time pushing the door outwards. It groaned and creaked as it swung out into a dark hallway. She wrinkled her nose as a strong smell hit her nose and the other girls reacted to it, covering their noses and mouths with their hands and shirts as the stench hit them.

"You see anything Ria?" Harriet asked as she peered into the darkness.

"Nothing," Maria sighed. "Sure wish I kept my harness with me after showers – I had a flashlight in one of the pockets – would have come in handy right now." She looked over her shoulder at Harriet and Sonya as she gestured to the hallway.

"Well, seeing as you two Sticks are the leaders of this group, I say lead the way," Maria said as she stepped to the side with dramatic flourish.

Harriet rolled her eyes before moving past the other girls and standing in front of the doorway. Sonya followed her and stood beside her, crossing her arms over her chest. Harriet scanned the rest of the group and said, "All of you, stay close and stay behind me and Sony. Stick with a buddy or whatever but if anything looks weird or promising along the way, speak up or risk getting lost. Clear?"

Everyone nodded and Harriet motioned for the group to follow her and Sonya down the hallway. Maria grabbed Jane's elbow and stayed close behind the co-leaders of the group. Jane intertwined her fingers with Maria's and squeezed her hand as they walked slowly, looking for a switch of some sort. The group continued to feel their way down the hallway when Helen grunted as she nearly tripped over something on the ground.

"Watch it Stick!" Julia hissed at her as she tried to steady Helen.

"Yeah sorry," Helen retorted with a roll of her eyes. "It's my fault that I'm a klutz and tripped over something that we clearly see is in the way. Oh wait…there's no –"

"Shut your mouth!" Harriet snapped as her fingers felt a cord hanging from the ceiling. "Hey Sticks, think I found the light switch."

"Pull it," Julia said as she stepped over another large obstacle. "Man, they gotta move all this junk outta of the way – someone could get hurt."

Harriet tugged on the cord and was forced her cover her eyes as a blinding flash of light filled the room. The other girls covered their eyes as the light flooded the room. Eventually, Harriet pried her eyes open to adjust to the brightness and she stared in horror at the floor. Sonya slowly opened hers and she put a hand to her mouth when she saw the sight. Maria's eyes flew open and she rubbed them before freezing and moving her hand away from her eyes.

"What…happened?" she asked as she looked around the room.

Jane screamed when she saw the bodies scattered across the floor and Harriet craned her neck to get a closer look at one of them near her. Her shoulders sagged when she saw it was the woman with auburn hair who shot the techs at the WICKED lab before shepherding them onto a helicopter, telling them she was flying them to safety. Sonya stared in horror at the bodies and watched as the others screamed, jumped, and some dashed out of the room for air or to be sick. Part of her wanted to crumple into a ball and cry about the series of events happening to them right now, but she squared her shoulders and turned to the right, noticing a plaque near the door to Aris's room.

"Harri, come check this out," Sonya said as she motioned her over. She stepped closer to the wall and read the plaque:

Aris Jones, Group B, Subject B1

The Partner.

Harriet frowned as she read the plaque and she crossed her arms over her chest. "This wasn't here last night, right?"

Maria stepped over one of the bodies and read the plaque. Her eyes narrowed as she shook her head. "Nah this definitely wasn't here – I would have remembered something weird like this. Why 'The Partner' though?"

"Maybe it doesn't mean anything," Sonya murmured as she glanced towards the door. "You think Aris had to deal with those awful things screaming at him?"

"Who knows?" Harriet sighed as she ran a hand through her dreads. She stared at Aris's door for a few moments and raised her fist to knock. "Aris, it's us. You in there?"

"I can't…" a faint voice on the other side cried out.

Sonya pressed her ear to the door and tried to see if she could hear anything else but gave up. "Don't know what's going on in there but I can't hear Aris."

"Do you wanna try going in there?" Maria asked as she made her way to the door.

Harriet stopped her, grabbing her shoulder and pulling her back. "Hold it Stick – can't just charge into a guy's room without warning."

"Well what –" Maria started to ask when a loud alarm sounded, followed by the lights going out again.

The girls covered their ears and Harriet cursed under her breath, fumbling for the light switch, only to find it wasn't working. "What the? It just worked a minute ago!" she yelled over the noise as she tugged it.

"Why is the alarm for The Box sounding?" Jane asked as she covered her ears.

"Maybe we're going to get a Newbie," Julia shouted. "Don't know where they're expected to show up in here, but that's the only reason I can think of."

"Why the Hell would they send us a Newbie now?" Helen growled as she held her hands over her ears tightly. "Kinda late to do that after we just escaped the Maze and took away our supplies with the arrival of that Aris Stick."

"Maybe it's a replacement for Rachel," Harriet shouted. The alarm stopped sounding and the girls began to straighten up, moving their hands away from their ears.

Maria twisted her mouth into a frown and she shook her head, grateful that no one could see her reaction right now. She didn't want a replacement – Hell, she didn't want to think about how close they had been to making it out with so few deaths and then, Beth went psycho on them and killed Rachel in front of them. It was a blur in Maria's mind – one moment she saw the knife hit Rachel's heart and the next she was standing over Beth's limp, bruised body with blood on her hands. She only knew the girl for a couple of days but she was…different. Too curious for her own good but she was smart and probably one of the few Sticks that Maria would consider braver than her. She made a promise to the Stick to help Jane find her parents once they escaped – make sure she was safe and far away from WICKED's clutches.

She snapped out of her trance when the lights came back on, blinding the group for a second time. "Sorry Sticks," Harriet apologized as she stood by the cord. "Okay, let's just stay cool and think it through. We should grab Aris and try to find a way outta this place before whatever got –"

"They're gone," Julia whispered as she looked around the room.

Harriet opened her eyes and stared with her mouth open. The bodies of their rescuers were gone – no blood, no stench – it almost seemed like what they saw was part of a really bad dream and they were just waking up from it.

"How the Hell did they do that?" Helen demanded as she staggered to her feet. She brushed a strand of short dark hair from her eyes and whipped her head around, looking for any remaining bodies lying in the room.

"I'm not sure," Harriet murmured as she looked back at Aris's door. "Let's just get Aris, go back to our room, and make a plan to get out of here. Okay?"

The group murmured their agreements and Harriet headed to the door, her fist raised to knock on the door. She paused when she saw the knob twisting back and forth before it opened a little and a bright blue eye peered out.

_That's not Aris_, Sonya thought as the door opened a little wider to reveal a fair-skinned girl with dark hair and bright blue eyes standing behind it.

"Who are you?" Harriet asked as she stared at the girl suspiciously.

The girl narrowed her eyes and crossed her arms over her chest. "Me? What about you – who the Hell are all of you?"

Before Harriet could reply, she saw something dash past her and Sonya saw it was Maria, who had grabbed the girl by the shoulders and pinned her to the far wall in Aris's room.

"Where's Aris, Stick?" Maria snarled as she got up in the other girl's face. "You better answer us or I'm going to punch that smug smile off your pretty little face!"

The girl's haughty expression changed to one of confusion and she stared at Maria with wide eyes. "Aris? Who's Aris – I don't know anyone with that name!"

"Why are you in his room?" Harriet demanded as she joined them, resting a hand on Maria's shoulder.

The girl threw her hands up and said, "I…don't…know! One moment I was sleeping in this one room across the hall from my group and the next thing I know, I woke up here, surrounded by you Shanks!"

"Shanks?" Maria asked with a baffled look. "What the –?"

"It was just a word they used – I didn't get it myself," the girl admitted.

"What other group?" Harriet asked as she locked eyes with the girl. "You better answer quickly 'cause I'm losing my patience with everything today. I've got enough crap to deal with today and I don't have time for more."

"My group – the Gladers," the girl explained as she looked from Harriet, to Maria, then to Sonya, who was joining them on the girl's left. "We just escaped a Maze – they had been there for 2 years, except for me and this other boy, and we were brought here after we left WICKED's lab."

Maria's eyes widened and she let go of the girl at her last statement. Sonya stepped closer and crossed her arms over her chest. "You said 'Maze' – what do you mean by that?"

The girl fixed her shirt before addressing Sonya. "There was a group of boys – no older than 13-18 that were living in a community called the Glade and it was surrounded by four giant doors, all leading to –"

"A Maze with changing walls and patterns?" Maria finished. "Did they send up a new person every month in The Box? Did you have these awful creatures roaming the Maze –"

"Yes but how would you know?" the girl asked as she raised a brow.

The three Group B girls exchanged a look and Harriet shook her head. "Same damn experiment," Maria murmured as she put her hands on her hips. "Except with boys and one Stick girl."

"Teresa," the girl spoke up. "My name is Teresa."

"Okay then 'Teresa'," Harriet said as she turned towards her. "Did the Stick that came up before you die before you left WICKED?"

Color drained from Teresa's face and she shook her head no. "No," she whispered with a disturbed look on her face. "They killed a young boy named Chuck – he was the Greenie before me and Thomas. There was this other guy – Gally, he was under some kind of control and he had a knife. He threw it at Thomas and Chuck stepped in front of him." Her eyes narrowed and she curled her fingers into a fist. "It should have killed Thomas though! Chuck should have just let it happened but he was so loyal to that shuckface that…" she trailed off. She groaned as she hit the back of her head against the wall and sighed. "I hate him. Really, really hate him. He tries to be a hero but he does such stupid, stupid things and everyone else dies because of him. I thought I was going to die a few times when he left me alone in the Slammer while the Grievers came after us. He claimed I was safer in there but I think he was hoping that they'd take me instead of someone else."

"Sounds like a real winner," Harriet murmured as she exchanged a look with Sonya. "But I think these WICKED Sticks are running two experiments simultaneously. Not sure why they'd want to do that, though."

Teresa threw up her hands and sighed as she moved away from the wall. "I don't know," she murmured as she began to walk around. "All I can remember was that I woke up in The Box, said that things were going to change, and then I was in a coma for a while. They said I had a note in my hand."

"Last one ever?" Sonya guessed.

"Yes!" Teresa said as she paused mid-pace. "Wait, did this Aris guy have a similar note?"

Sonya nodded as she wrapped her fingers around her arm. "Yeah, he came up unconscious, then all of a sudden he pops up and declares "Everything is going to change" before falling into a coma and holding up a note that says 'He's the last one. Ever' on it."

Harriet studied Teresa as she crossed her arms over her chest. "Sounds just like Aris," she noted. "You probably triggered an ending or something in your Maze, right?"

"Yes," she replied. "Apparently I wrote "WICKED is good" on my arm when I woke up. But I don't know why I did that."

"She's this group's Aris," Maria concluded. "Although it sounds like the guy who was like Rachel survived." She sighed and shook her head before gathering all of her long, dark hair and securing it into a ponytail near the top of her head.

Sonya frowned as she tilted her head towards Maria. She walked behind Maria and leaned closer to try to look at something on her neck. Numbers, letters…

"You trying to smell her Sony?" Helen asked all of a sudden. "Look I know you've got Harri and Ria wrapped around your pretty little finger but this isn't the time –"

"Ria, there's something on your neck," Sonya spoke up, ignoring Helen's outburst.

"Then get it off," Maria replied with a roll of her eyes.

Sonya shook her head and murmured, "It's like, printed or inked onto your skin or something."

Maria stiffened at that comment and Julia frowned when she saw something on Teresa's neck as she rubbed the back of her neck.

"Looks like this Stick has something too," Julia added as she pointed to Teresa's neck.

"What?" Teresa asked, eyes widening in horror. "There was, there was nothing there last night!"

"It's got this printed or inked look to it like the thing you said Ria has," Julia added as she approached Teresa to get a better look. "It says Property…sorry can't see the rest Stick, can you move your hair?"

Teresa pulled her hair to the side and Julia leaned closer as she read aloud, "Property of WICKED, Group A, Subject A1. The Betrayer."

"What's that supposed to mean?" Teresa asked as she stepped away from Julia. "I never betrayed anyone in my group – what's the deal with that being on my neck?"

Julia held her hands up in defense. "Calm down Stick," she said. "I'm just reading what I saw. No need –"

"Ria," Sonya interrupted as she moved Maria's hair to the side. "Yours says Property of WICKED, Group B, Subject B4. The Hellion." Maria narrowed her eyes and she muttered something under her breath that sounded like, "Unbelievable." She rubbed the back of her neck to see if the message was imprinted but only felt smooth skin.

Helen snorted as she crossed her arms over her chest. "I'll bet its cause of your big mouth, Ria!" she chortled.

"Shut up Hells Bells!" Maria snapped. "Like you're a saint in this group!"

Jane stood on tiptoe and tried to read Helen's neck. "You've got one too," she said. "Yours says Subject B6. The Fighter."

Helen's eyes widened and she ran over to the bathroom connected to Aris's room to check it in the mirrors. Teresa and Maria followed her to look at theirs and Helen shook her head as she emerged.

"Fighter?" she snorted as she shook her head. "Ha! Well, we did fight like crazy Sticks to get outta that place!"

Eventually the others began to check each other for their own marks or tattoos as some called them. In the midst of everyone yelling out numbers and descriptions about them, Sonya swept her hair off her back and asked Maria to read hers. Maria leaned close, tracing her fingers along the lines printed neatly on Sonya's pale skin.

"You're Subject B3. The Survivor," Maria told her as she walked around Sonya.

Sonya frowned as she played with her hair, eventually gathering it in a long braid that lay on her right shoulder. "Why me?" she murmured. She shrugged her shoulders and pursed her lips as she looked around the room, crossing her arms over her chest. "Everyone who escaped is a survivor – why aren't one of them branded that?"

Maria sighed as she met Sonya's eyes and shrugged. "You've…been through a lot – maybe that's why they called you that."

"Everyone's been through a lot!" Sonya snapped as her eyes narrowed. "How am I any different?" She bit her lip and watched as Harriet knelt down so Jane could read her tattoo off.

"What's it say Janey?" Harriet asked.

"It says you're B2. The Protector," Jane told her as she moved her hand away from the older girl's neck.

"Guess Aris must be B1," Harriet murmured as she straightened up. "It's kind of eerie hearing all these descriptions and none of us had 'em before."

Jane folded her hands and tilted her head towards Harriet. "You're always looking out for us. I mean, you were the first one in the Glen. Maybe that's why you're The Protector."

Sonya smiled sadly as she watched Harriet mess up Jane's hair, making the little girl whine about trying to make her hair look nice for once.

The tattoo description bothered her but she knew it was accurate – compared to all of the others who lived in the Glen, Sonya was the third one to go up in The Box. Immediately after she arrived, she defied Harriet and ran out into the Maze to check it out, ignoring the older girl's warnings that she would get lost. But she managed to make it back before the Doors closed, sealing them in for the night. Harriet made her go out into the Maze every day after that to map out the routes and patterns that she found along the way. Then Sonya stumbled across Charlotte's grave and found out what had happened – like Sonya, she went out into the Maze a few days after her arrival, only she got stung by a horrible creature called a Griever and began to lose her mind. Harriet had been forced to put the poor girl out of her misery and it had been the day prior to Sonya's arrival, which made her alienate the leader of the Glen for a while. The only comfort she saw in her job as a Runner was being able to go out and try to find a way out of this place. Then Maria came up in The Box and she started running with her every day in the Maze. She proved to be much faster and very observant about her surroundings, which resulted in Sonya passing on her title of Keeper of the Runners to Maria. It had been pretty normal for the most part until Rachel came up and Sonya got stung when she accompanied Maria to the site where the "dead" Griever was. She felt a pain that made her nerves rush and sting violently in her system, accompanied with a cold, icy sensation that made her quiver all over. The memories were worse – the cold lab floors, the haughty expressions of the techs that made her go into these rooms to complete tests every day…She remembered seeing Rachel and Aris observing her while she was tested and for some reason, she kept seeing this older girl with dark eyes and dark hair that was not in their Maze but she worked for WICKED. She remembered this older girl giving her a disapproving look while Maria watched helpless as another tech carried Sonya off screaming and thrashing in his arms.

"What's mine?" Julia asked, snapping Sonya out of her trance.

Harriet stepped up and read Julia's off as B5. The Thinker. "Figures Jules. You're always stuck in your head, dreaming up new recipes to make us sick of."

Julia's eyes narrowed and she crossed her arms over her chest. She raised her chin a little and walked over to Harriet with a stern look. "I know my cooking can't be that bad if you Sticks keep eating it."

"Frypan," Teresa murmured as she looked over at Julia.

"What? What are you mumbling about?" Harriet demanded as she jerked head in Teresa's direction.

"The cook in my group was a guy named Frypan – not sure if that was his name that the WICKED techs gave him, but everyone made fun of his cooking too," Teresa said with a wistful smile.

Julia blinked and she shook her head. "Hope I can meet this 'Frypan' someday," she said. "He probably shares my pain of slaving in the kitchen for hours on end to keep you guys fed, only get a buncha complaints about it being terrible, even though the plates come back empty."

"Ah, we were just throwing it to the pigs," Harriet joked as she nudged the cook in the arm.

"Can someone read mine?" Jane called out as she pulled her blonde hair away from her neck.

Julia knelt down and leaned closer to read the tattoo printed on the younger girl's neck. "You are B7. The Innocent."

Sonya couldn't help but snort when she heard that and Julia straightened up, turning her attention on the co-leader. "I'm not the one who made these up," Julia began, "but I guess it's 'cause she's never done anything bad."

"Except for all the countless pranks she pulled!" Sonya shot back as she raised a brow.

Jane blushed and mumbled that she was sorry while the others snickered about her title.

"Now you're apologizing Janey?"

"If only those Sticks knew what she did to the cat that one time."

"Cat? What about me – she hid my spoons and cups one time and I had to measure with my hands!"

"Okay shut up, all of you!" Maria shouted as she stepped in front of Jane. "Yeah I know that Janey here hasn't been a saint but c'mon, she was trying to have fun in the nightmare we lived in. Admit it Sticks – without Janey keeping us on our toes, things would have been pretty damn boring!"

The others fell silent and Jane mouthed a thank you to Maria before trudging off to the bathroom to take a closer look at her tattoo. Maria walked back over to Sonya as Harriet ordered some of the other members to go check the hallways for another door or means of escape. The rest headed back to their sleeping quarters and others complained about being hungry.

"You gonna be okay Sony?" Maria asked as she looked Sonya in the eye.

Sonya looked past Maria and watched as the Group B members went off in separate directions, leaving her alone with the Keeper of the Runners. Teresa had joined the group that was checking the building for another door or way out and Harriet said she'd meet the others back in their room.

"Ria, remember when we didn't have to survive?" Sonya asked with a wistful smile.

Maria bit her lip as she tried to remember the last happy moment she could recall, prior to her arrival in the Glen and shook her head.

"Yeah," Sonya murmured as the smile faded, "I don't remember either."


End file.
